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browneyedgirl
Joined: 17 Jul 2007
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 Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 11:20 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Rae"]
| bassexpander wrote: |
I thought the same thing but apparently it's possible. Though I'm not exactly sure if that would mean there's someone with blue eyes in their family generations down. I've heard of Japanese that can trace their lineage for generations and yet somehow their mixed baby turns out with blue or green eyes. I think what it all comes down to is there is no such thing as a pure race. We're all mixed somewhere down the line even if no one owns up to it. |
You're more likely to have blue eyes if someone in your family had them, but blue eyes are just a gene mutation that can happen naturally. It just happens so rarely that people assume that you have to have it in your family way back.
Humans are all the same race. Ethnicities are a different story. |
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Atramentous
Joined: 12 Jan 2008
Location: Ansan
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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I had a friend in School that was mixed caucasian and korean. She had very light skin, freckles, medium brown hair and light brown eyes. She used to joke that she was her mum, just watered down. I noticed that in quite a few mixed kids - that their eyes stayed brown, only not nearly as dark as their non-caucasian parent.
I am paper white (Irish skin - thanks mum) but have my dad's mediterrean eyes and hair. I think that my future children are doomed to dark eyes.  |
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wanderingbear
Joined: 09 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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| my kids will have orange eyes, i tell you what |
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samcheokguy
Joined: 02 Nov 2008
Location: Samcheok G-do
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| no eyes. |
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Draz
Joined: 27 Jun 2007
Location: Land of Morning Clam
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:43 am Post subject: |
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Me: Green eyes (blue recessive)
Him: Brown eyes (blue recessive)
It gave me a 13% chance of blue eyes but I always thought it would be 25%. The calculator needs to go farther back to be accurate doesn't it? |
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Faunaki
Joined: 15 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| My husband who is a pure K has little flecks of red hair in his beard. Really interesting. Maybe he's not totally pure and then our brats have chance of having different colored eyes than boring brown. |
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Rae
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| browneyedgirl wrote: |
| Rae wrote: |
I thought the same thing but apparently it's possible. Though I'm not exactly sure if that would mean there's someone with blue eyes in their family generations down. I've heard of Japanese that can trace their lineage for generations and yet somehow their mixed baby turns out with blue or green eyes. I think what it all comes down to is there is no such thing as a pure race. We're all mixed somewhere down the line even if no one owns up to it. |
You're more likely to have blue eyes if someone in your family had them, but blue eyes are just a gene mutation that can happen naturally. It just happens so rarely that people assume that you have to have it in your family way back.
Humans are all the same race. Ethnicities are a different story. |
I posted this article because of the semi-recent discoveries in chromosome 15 and complexities of eye-color. I remember back in school, it was always explained by mutations. But recent studies show that the recessive gene, something we always regarded as weak, is in fact still carried through the generations, explaining what most people think is just a freak occurrence. I agree we are all the same race, but geneticists have grouped ancient people in particular categories that share certain characteristics, most of which are still valid today. Although I do hope we all become one big mix in the future ... which is how it's heading anyway.
I'm kind of interested in sociocultural anthropology and so the cultural aspect of it is what fascinates me. Some new research suggests that we are in fact, all muts (at one point or other) - even the ancient cultures that seem to have been isolated! It's pretty geeky but I think it's cool to see more facts that help disprove the whole "purity" of blood thing that seems to be so prevalent here in Korea.
But back to the cool calc. I curious what my future babies will look like Apparently this eye color thing is a lot more complex than what was taught in school. Everyone in my family has brown eyes, mine are extremely dark, but both my maternal and paternal grandmother have told me about their blue-eyed grandfather. Coupled with my gray-eyed Nord, it gives us a 72% chance of having brown-eyed munchkins. |
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Rae
Joined: 10 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:53 am Post subject: |
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| browneyedgirl wrote: |
but blue eyes are just a gene mutation that can happen naturally |
Oooh you're right:
From the University of Copenhagen, dated Jan 2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-01/uoc-bhh013008.php
| Quote: |
Blue-eyed humans have a single, common ancestor
New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye colour of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.
What is the genetic mutation
�Originally, we all had brown eyes�, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology. �But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a �switch�, which literally �turned off� the ability to produce brown eyes�. The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives colour to our hair, eyes and skin. The �switch�, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris � effectively �diluting� brown eyes to blue. The switch�s effect on OCA2 is very specific. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin colour � a condition known as albinism.
Limited genetic variation
Variation in the colour of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes. �From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,� says Professor Eiberg. �They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.� Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.
Professor Eiberg and his team examined mitochondrial DNA and compared the eye colour of blue-eyed individuals in countries as diverse as Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. His findings are the latest in a decade of genetic research, which began in 1996, when Professor Eiberg first implicated the OCA2 gene as being responsible for eye colour.
Nature shuffles our genes
The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It is one of several mutations such as hair colour, baldness, freckles and beauty spots, which neither increases nor reduces a human�s chance of survival. As Professor Eiberg says, �it simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.�
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I have hazel eyes that change colors with my moods and the changes in the light throughout the day. I don't know if I will even have kids, but if I do, I would like to pass them along. I think they are a recessive trait, but I'm not sure. |
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